Friday, January 9, 2009

I caved.

I pumped at 2 o' clock. I was in excruciating pain and leaking everywhere. I am going to pump once or twice a day for the next week to lower my supply more, then try again. The cabbage worked well for the engorgement...definitely made it less painful, but I think I could lower my supply a bit first to lessen the leakage and the engorgement. Why not? Right??

8 comments:

Tina said...

Oh I'm so sorry you are in so much pain. I know the feeling. if you are going to pump my suggestion just pump a tiny amount. enough just to take the edge off the pain level.

hang in there.

Stacemoe said...

That sounds like a good plan to me...if you were trying to wean naturally (I don't know if that is offensive, I am not meaning it to be) they suggest just cutting back on a feeding or two gradually every 3-4 days and your milk supply will slowly reduce, so what you are saying makes perfectly good sense and seems like the best way to go rather than stopping cold turkey!!!! There is no sense to be in a ton of pain, when you can do it gradually....Hang in there and have a great weekend.

Lisa said...

Sorry you are hurting so bad. I remember when I was going through that and it does hurt. Pumping is good, but you just don't want to do too much...another thing that they told me was to milk yourself (I know that sounds bad, but when you are in the shower, you can just do enough to relieve your pressure). You do want to avoid from letting the water stream from the shower hit your chest because that can actually produce more milk. Sounds like alot to remember, but if you either pump a little or gently massage during your shower (just enough to help) then it will eventually dry up. Glad to hear that the cabbage leaves helped. I know they did for me. hang in there!!

HereWeGoAJen said...

That sounds like how you would do it if you were weaning Carter, so I think it sounds perfect.

Sue Z said...

My sons weaned gradually over a period of time and when they stopped altogether, I had no pain ... because the milk supply had slowly dwindled, and that's what will happen if you pump. I think that pumping is a good idea and it may take longer for your milk to dry up, but it will be more comfortable for you. Remember that milk is provided on a supply and demand basis. The more the baby nurses...or you pump, the more milk that you'll have. The less you pump, the less milk that you'll have. It usually takes a few days for the milk supply to respond to the demand. Once you're comfortable, I would wait about 5 days and decrease the amount that you're pumping again. Before you know it, you'll have no more milk!

Unknown said...

Oh girl, I'm sorry about the pain. It is something I'm dreading doing so I'm glad you blog about it so I don't feel so along. I hope the next time is more painfree. I think it sounds good what you said about decreasing your pumping a bit at a time. It worked well for my friend (she was a pumper like me - not on the breast feeder). Hehe...I just said a pumper! Thanks for the info on the Gripe Water. J just had Brynn is a basic Baby Bjorn carrier. Someone got it for us even though I didn't register for it but it seems to work pretty good for her so far. Let me know what ends up working for you as you pump wean - like how many times a day for how long and so forth because I'm going to follow your lead when I get to that point :-) I'm glad I have you to lead the way ((hugs))

sara said...

Oh girl, I'm sorry about the pain. It is something I'm dreading doing so I'm glad you blog about it so I don't feel so along. I hope the next time is more painfree. I think it sounds good what you said about decreasing your pumping a bit at a time. It worked well for my friend (she was a pumper like me - not on the breast feeder). Hehe...I just said a pumper! Thanks for the info on the Gripe Water. J just had Brynn is a basic Baby Bjorn carrier. Someone got it for us even though I didn't register for it but it seems to work pretty good for her so far. Let me know what ends up working for you as you pump wean - like how many times a day for how long and so forth because I'm going to follow your lead when I get to that point :-) I'm glad I have you to lead the way ((hugs))

sara said...

Sorry - the comment from JB was from me, it was accidently signed into my husband's google email because he had been using the computer when I posted..sorry!